The Pacha of Many Tales eBook

After a few minutes, they commenced sawing a hole
in the side of my whale boat; and a piece being removed,
a head was put in. Fearful of another harpoon,
I had raised up my large white bear’s skin as
a defence, and the man perceiving it, immediately
withdrew his head, swearing that there was a white
bear in the belly of the whale. The boat shoved
off, and they commenced firing musket balls, which
pierced my boat through and through, and I was obliged
to lie down at the bottom to save my life. After
about twenty shots, the boat again came along side,
and a man, putting his head in, and perceiving me at
the bottom of the boat, covered over with the bear’s
skin, imagined that the animal had been killed, and
reported to his companions. With some degree of
apprehension they climbed in at the hole which they
had cut, when I lifted up my bear’s skin, and
made my appearance, dressed in the black skin worn
by the inhabitants of Whale’s Island. This
frightened them still more; one roared out that it
was the devil, and they all ran to make their escape
at the hole by which they entered, but in their eagerness
they prevented each other.

It was with difficulty that I convinced them that
I was harmless, which I did at last; and having explained
in a few words how I came there, they permitted me
to go with them on board of the ship. The captain
was very sulky when he heard the story; he had imagined
it to be a dead whale, and had ordered it to be towed
alongside, to cut off the blubber. Disappointed
in his expectations, he swore that I was a Jonas, who
had come out of the whale’s belly, and there
would be no luck in the ship, if I remained.
The sailors, whose profits in the voyage were regulated
by the number of fish taken, thought this an excellent
reason for throwing me overboard; and had there not
been two sail in sight, standing towards them, I certainly
should have had some more adventures to narrate.
At last they consented to put me on board of one which
had hoisted French colours. She was from Havre,
and having twelve fish on board, was returning home.
The captain consented to give me a passage, and in
two months I was once more in my native country.

Such, your highness, were the adventures of my Third
Voyage.

“Well, the story of the Island was rather too
long,” observed the pacha, “but altogether,
it was amusing. Mustapha, I think it is worth
ten pieces of gold.”

Chapter X

The next day the renegade commenced his fourth voyage
in the following words.